All right. Hey guys, what’s up? It’s Stephen from CORE Therapy and Pilates and today I have our new apprentice, Liz. She’s our new Pilates apprentice thats going to be helping me out with this demonstration. What we’re going to do is, we’re going to talk a little bit about the diaphragm and about the ribs.
All my patients, when we talk about core strengthening, their ribs tend to be elevated and what I call, “Popped up.” A lot of my clients have an increased sway in their back, or lordosis in their back. So their pelvis is rocked forward, but the ribs are also rocked up. And so, what we’re going to do is a little diaphragmatic breathing exercise, but with a little sandbag.
So I’m going to put this little sandbag on her ribs. This sandbag is a yoga product. It’s from a website called beanproducts, BEANproducts.com. It’s a 10 pound sandbag, and by putting that on the lower ribs, what it does is it starts to depress those ribs, and stress the front of the torso a little bit.
Now, what I want you to do, Mrs. Liz, I want you to take a big inhale, and I want you to inhale into my hands, and then exhale. Bring your ribs together. Good, so we’re going to do diaphragmatic breathing, but with this sandbag, okay? Now, you can order these sandbags from the website I mentioned, beanproducts.com. We also have some of the sandbags here, but they’re not filled with sand. I’m working on a project to get them filled with sand. So we have them, an empty bag that you can purchase here and go fill it up with sand, and put the right amount of sand, anywhere from eight to 10 pounds, and use it at home.
So this is a product that I’ve been using for years. I love this products. I teach my clients to use it at home. I teach my clients to use it in here as a part of their therapy. And all this is doing is it’s releasing the diaphragm, and it’s allowing the ribs to get into a better position. But more importantly, it’s getting the lumbar spine into a better position. Most people think about getting lumbar spine in a better position by the position of their pelvis, by tilting their pelvis backwards, or forwards, or whatever to get into a neutral spine.
But the reality is that the rib position has a lot to do with it, and so that’s what this is all about today, is the diaphragm release with the sandbag while practicing diaphragmatic breathing. So that’s what we got for you today. If you have any questions, comment below, and I’ll be happy to answer, and we’ll see you all around the studio. You all take care, bye now.
[UPDATE] We have weighted sandbags at the front desk of CORE… Stop by and get one while they are in stock or click on this Amazon link to order »
Are you looking to take the next step with your shallow breathing or popped ribs? We see this problem all the time and would love to help you.
Call 512-215-4227 or click here to apply for a FREE Breathing Assessment with our Physical Therapist. We call it a Discovery session so that you can discover what has gone wrong and to discuss a plan of action to resolve it.